BY DC CUEVA
It's a new week in the MTV Trifecta, and after taking last week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, Real World Bad Blood returns Wednesday as things start to unravel in the Seattle house. But first, we present another edition of DC ExtraTime In-Depth, the dedicated long-form posts of our original look at the people, moments and stories of The Challenge/Real World franchise and Are You The One?. On the big day last Thursday, we brought you the inspiring and moving story of the special bond of six-time Challenge champion Johnny Bananas and his biggest fan, cancer survivor Kasey Harvey. And today, we offer our second long-form post in a week... this time, something fun that predated what would happen in pop culture just a few years later.
On this edition of ExtraTime In-Depth, we look back to when two guys named RedFoo and SkyBlu rolled onto Cancun for Spring Break 2009 seven years ago and hung out with eight strangers, before they became - for a time - the biggest stars in music. This is what happened When LMFAO Met The Real World.
Five years ago in 2011, fourteen songs occupied the coveted spot of #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart - the very barometer of which songs are top of the pops in America when record sales, radio airplay and online streaming are all factored in every week. This was no doubt the year of Adele, as "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You" saw her spend 12 total weeks on top of the singles charts on this side of the pond - more than any other artist that year (and for as long as the recent run this fall of "Closer" by The Chainsmokers & Halsey), as her album 21 became a landmark in recent music history. Katy Perry spent nine weeks at #1, and so did Rihanna. Bruno Mars, Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga and Pitbull & Ne-Yo also topped the Hot 100 in 2011, among others.
In summer 2008, LMFAO dropped their debut EP album Party Rock EP, and a month later came their first single, "I'm In Miami B!t©h." The EP peaked in the top 40 of the Billboard 200 and #2 on the U.S. dance chart, while that first single charted at 51 on the Hot 100 and top 40 in Canada. In early '09, a DJ named DJ Inphinity made a bootleg combining a remix of DJ Chuckie's hit "Let the Bass Kick" and LMFAO's "Miami" vocals into "Bass Kick in Miami." This mash-up spread like wildfire on the Web and at the 2009 Winter Music Conference held in Miami of all places, the track brought them to a large audience for the first time. The track caught the attention of executives from E!, and it became the theme for Kourtney and Kholé Take Miami featuring two members of the Kardashian clan. And the song would become a massive radio hit, sometimes customized for major cities replacing Miami with New York, L.A., the Bay Area and so forth.
The release of that debut single was the first of several events that year that would begin to put together the formula that would take LMFAO to the top of the music world. The next stop was Spring Break, and it saw them take their talents to Cancun, Mexico for that annual ritual of getting down and going wild in tropical locales in that 1-2 week's break during the college/school year.
In that season's group job, they were assigned the ultimate tester of a job in this paradise: working for millennial-targeted travel company StudentCity, helping college students have a blast of a Spring Break in this tourist hotspot and pleasure playground that is tops among non-U.S. destinations come springtime. Why a tough job than at first glance, you ask? It involves directing traffic for the hordes of students who come to have a good time and keeping an eye out of them when they're in town. Most importantly, the group must be on their best behavior when working and representing the company at all times, and also must not mingle with students while on the job. Failure to do so would result in them being fired, and in old school RW terms, thus being kicked out of the house.
In Episode 7, the group would be faced with their biggest challenge yet: "Peak Week." This was when the majority of the tens of thousands of students traveling to Cancun would be coming in for the busiest week of their stay in Mexico. Approximately 70% of students from the U.S. come flooding around the first two weeks of March as most colleges hold their Spring Break during this time, all while the NCAA tournament and conference championships are taking place back stateside. StudentCity always makes Peak Week a top priority, and in Cancun it was no exception. And in order for them to make this experience a great one, everyone would have to step up.
For punk-rocker Joey, he was already put under the microscope for not doing exactly that at work. Just one week earlier, he found himself in trouble with his employers and after careful discussion was given another chance. Ayiiia had a strong bickering with him since they got into two fights -- one when he spit into her food and the other back home which caused her to cut herself -- and was eager to see him get another strike at work and be sent home.
For punk-rocker Joey, he was already put under the microscope for not doing exactly that at work. Just one week earlier, he found himself in trouble with his employers and after careful discussion was given another chance. Ayiiia had a strong bickering with him since they got into two fights -- one when he spit into her food and the other back home which caused her to cut herself -- and was eager to see him get another strike at work and be sent home.
Joey told his mom, "When I think too much about the rules and the things I can't do, I wanna break them. These next two weeks are peak weeks. We got 1,800 kids coming in this weekend. It's like nothing I've ever seen in my life. It's like I gotta babysit 500 kids. You gotta be responsible. It's kinda like work ethic and having a job and not screwing up." And for Ayiiia, "I don't hate a lot of people... But I really, really, really, really hate Joey. I'm just hoping he gets another strike so he goes home."
When Bronne, who had the tough task of representing the cast in being embedded with the duo, he becomes starstruck: "I have assigned to be LMFAO's concierge, so I'm in charge of entertaining them, making sure they get what they want, and then most importantly of all, I'm in charge of making sure their shows run smoothly. The minute I see LMFAO walk out at the airport, first thing that goes through my mind is, 'This is gonna be awesome.' Like, these are some cool guys." That entourage not only included RedFoo and SkyBlu, but also hype man Q and their manager Rene, who is the man who had all the answers if Bronne had questions.
Bronne says, "The thing about LMFAO is they're that ball of chaotic wildness." And Ayiiia, who won her way to the RW suite by way of an online contest, adds of the guys, "LMFAO are pretty chill guys. They're different." And they're anything but ordinary -- it doesn't take long for the guys to mingle with the cast in Suite ME as they dance by the pool and even get some love advice when two of the guys' love interests -- two Playboy models, in fact -- come in and Joey steals one of them.
Later that night, the group heads over to the club and concert venue where LMFAO would perform at to do mic-testing, and along with eyeing the stage they also have to make sure that everything show-related - from alcohol for the partiers to fliers to all of that is accounted for. And when word gets out of LMFAO wanting to move to the center stage to perform "I'm in Miami", that is taken care of rather swiftly.
When the guys' next appearance at The Beach House on the ME property takes place, it coincides with the peak of "Peak Week" with many more students flying into town. This means they all have to take the work seriously to handle the increased number of young people in Cancun. And that also means that despite them all dressing up for the big night, Joey is also assigned the rather difficult task of having to work the morning shift on a short turnaround -- 8:30 A.M. the next day, and a huge test for him to do four things: work an unusual time period, not stay up all night, make sure to report to duty on time and call in if in case he couldn't make it or if he was late.
The guys take the floor down in the poolside lounge, then retreat upstairs to Suite ME where RedFoo, SkyBlu and company have a late night after party of Joey's guitar serenading the suite in accompanying the guy in the afro and other things. A friend of theirs decides to go for a shower and then running around naked wanting to look for his boxers that was lost somewhere to everyone's laughter, and then him & SkyBlu sitting in the confessional with just their birthday suits on alongside Jasmine. CJ says of the guys, "LMFAO might be the coolest dudes I've ever hung out with in my life." And for Joey? As he sits in between the guys he confesses, "The past couple days have been the best days in Cancun, legit."
Well... the punk-rocker may have partied too hard with the guys. When the clock hit 8:00 a.m. on the clock alarm of a simple digital watch instead of a standard alarm clock, Joey is still asleep. When it reached a quarter to 10 a.m., the house was still in bed by the time Bronne comes back home from very late night partying when he didn't have to work the shift, which awakes CJ and Joey as they find out that they missed the alarm going off, even though CJ had set the clock. They suddenly find out that it may be the last straw for him, and Joey immediately calls Christina about what happened and takes responsibility.
But ultimately, the bosses had the last call, and brought with them plane tickets... Joey was fired and, in turn, sent home. When news gets out to the rest of the group, they were shocked to find that he was sent home without giving the group a proper farewell. But one person was happy: Ayiiia was more than relieved that her enemy was kicked out. At least until he came back at season's end. and pulled off that aforementioned sensational hook-up that shocked just about everyone.
After the episode aired that August, Jasmine wrote the following first-hand blog account for the now-defunct Real World Dailies site about her experience with LMFAO.
Later that night, the group heads over to the club and concert venue where LMFAO would perform at to do mic-testing, and along with eyeing the stage they also have to make sure that everything show-related - from alcohol for the partiers to fliers to all of that is accounted for. And when word gets out of LMFAO wanting to move to the center stage to perform "I'm in Miami", that is taken care of rather swiftly.
When the guys' next appearance at The Beach House on the ME property takes place, it coincides with the peak of "Peak Week" with many more students flying into town. This means they all have to take the work seriously to handle the increased number of young people in Cancun. And that also means that despite them all dressing up for the big night, Joey is also assigned the rather difficult task of having to work the morning shift on a short turnaround -- 8:30 A.M. the next day, and a huge test for him to do four things: work an unusual time period, not stay up all night, make sure to report to duty on time and call in if in case he couldn't make it or if he was late.
The guys take the floor down in the poolside lounge, then retreat upstairs to Suite ME where RedFoo, SkyBlu and company have a late night after party of Joey's guitar serenading the suite in accompanying the guy in the afro and other things. A friend of theirs decides to go for a shower and then running around naked wanting to look for his boxers that was lost somewhere to everyone's laughter, and then him & SkyBlu sitting in the confessional with just their birthday suits on alongside Jasmine. CJ says of the guys, "LMFAO might be the coolest dudes I've ever hung out with in my life." And for Joey? As he sits in between the guys he confesses, "The past couple days have been the best days in Cancun, legit."Well... the punk-rocker may have partied too hard with the guys. When the clock hit 8:00 a.m. on the clock alarm of a simple digital watch instead of a standard alarm clock, Joey is still asleep. When it reached a quarter to 10 a.m., the house was still in bed by the time Bronne comes back home from very late night partying when he didn't have to work the shift, which awakes CJ and Joey as they find out that they missed the alarm going off, even though CJ had set the clock. They suddenly find out that it may be the last straw for him, and Joey immediately calls Christina about what happened and takes responsibility.
But ultimately, the bosses had the last call, and brought with them plane tickets... Joey was fired and, in turn, sent home. When news gets out to the rest of the group, they were shocked to find that he was sent home without giving the group a proper farewell. But one person was happy: Ayiiia was more than relieved that her enemy was kicked out. At least until he came back at season's end. and pulled off that aforementioned sensational hook-up that shocked just about everyone.
After the episode aired that August, Jasmine wrote the following first-hand blog account for the now-defunct Real World Dailies site about her experience with LMFAO.
LMFAO!!!!! What can I say?? These guys are awesome, chill, and funny!!
Bronne and Ayiiia came back from the airport and told us how they do this thing called “TAGGING” i.e. put LMFAO stickers on random people. It was so funny to watch them do it on people walking by, they even got me a few times. They even got a few of the camera guys!! (lol)
I had never heard of them or there music. But just hanging out with before I got see them perform was AWESOME!! They were not demanding or rude at all, they liked to hang by the pool with us drink and have fun!! I’m not sure who got more wasted those few days us or them. Watching them perform at the CITY was amazing, I was like WOW…there songs were good and catchy, after 2 days I knew every last word!! It was amazing to watch them and the crowd all into there songs….I was like YEA GO LMFAO!!!
Their last night in town we all went out to Bulldog and it got crazy! As you see Q (their dancer) was running around our house naked. He decided randomly he wanted to take a shower, so SkyBlu took his clothes and Q was just running around the house looking for a towel…it was so funny!!
So we all go out to the club have a good time just dancing, drinking and tagging people. By the end of the night I was tagged from head to toe. Of course we invited them back to the house to hang out with us. SkyBlue and Q were like I bet you wont do a naked confessional with us, I was like sure I will but you 2 are going to be the ones nude!! They actually agreed to it!!! It was so awesome I had 2 naked guys in a room with me since that was the most action I had seen since being there. (lol) I even got them to say my famous phrase “ILL DRINK TO THAT”. They really liked when I bounced my booty for them…hehehe!!
Afterwards, Redfoo and Joey were jamming the guitar together and we would all join along and ding with them. It was so much fun to hang with them, we made promises to keep in touch with after the show and hang out.
Right after we finished the show, a few of us went to VEGAS and they were there at the time and we got to hang with them again for like 2 days!! We sat around talked about the good ole days of Cancun!! Skyblue even asked me if I remembered the naked confessional…how could I ever forget!!
LMFAO to me is now our part of the Real World Cancun family, without them being there I don’t think Cancun would have been as much as it was. So THANK YOU LMFAO!! I LOVE YOU GUYS
LMFAO…”I'M IN CANCUN BITCH”
Jasmine…”I'LL DRINK TO THAT”
LMFAO's cameo on Real World Cancun was the start of a perfect storm, along with both the release of their debut album and single. Shortly thereafter, MTV would go back to the guys for another idea: they asked them to contribute their track "Get Crazy" from that album to accompany the opening title sequence to a reality show they did that summer documenting eight unique people from New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island spending their summer at a house by the boardwalk in Seaside Heights. The rest became history as Jersey Shore became the biggest hit and most-watched series in MTV history as Snooki, Mike "The Situation", Pauly D., J-Woww, Sammi, Ronnie, Vinny, Angelina and Deena became household names, both among MTV fans and even our parents.
Along with appearing with David Guetta in the 2010 international hit "Gettin' Over You," this set the stage for what would happen in 2011. In February, LMFAO released "Party Rock Anthem" with British pop star and member of girl group G.R.L. Lauren Bennett and producer GoonRock. For the music video - a parody of the horror flick 28 Days Later, Director Mickey Finnegan says of its concept: "There's been an epidemic, the world has gone crazy, as soon as the song came out, everyone got possessed and all they want to do is to shuffle, everyone is a shuffler."
It became memorable for the dance moves that America's Best Dance Crew champions Quest Crew choreographed once the guys had awoken from a hospital bed after excessive partying and walked onto a street of deserted cars, realizing "Party Rock Anthem" was being released. Once a guy clues them in about is going on, the guys begin to perform the Melbourne Shuffle, a club and rave dance of fast heel & toe action that originated in the Australian underground music scene in the '80s and after 30 years began to take the U.S. by storm by way of this video.
The results of this massive success: #1 on the mainstream pop charts in 18 countries including spending 68 weeks inside the Billboard Hot 100. "Party Rock Anthem" was 2011's third best-selling digital single with 9.7 million legal downloads, ultimately becoming the 3rd best-selling digital song in U.S. history, and the 5th most-successful song ever in the long history of Billboard magazine - and also being top winner at that year's Billboard Music Awards. And for the video, it's in the Top 25 in most-viewed videos ever on YouTube and one of over 30 music videos to have achieved the 1-billion views mark... not to mention other big honors. But that's not all.
That fall, LMFAO released "Sexy and I Know It," which followed in the previous single's success by topping the Hot 100 (becoming first duo to have two straight #1 singles since Outkast) and peaked in the top 10 in other countries. The video itself was as memorable, as the Venice Beach-based video saw RedFoo, the group's mascot Shuffle Bot, the aforementioned Q, Quest Crew and Nathan Palsey dance around the streets of the beachside town in their Speedos, with cameos from Jamie Foxx, Wilmer Valderrama, adult film icon Ron Jeremy, former MTV VJ Simon Rex and others.
To celebrate their breakthrough 2011, the guys were brought on to perform with Madonna at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show as they performed a mash-up of their two breakout singles to the tune of "Music" by the Material Girl. This would turn out to be near the end of the peak of LMFAO mania, as after the release of the title track from Sorry for Party Rocking, the guys announced that they would take an indefinite hiatus to focus on RedFoo and SkyBlu's solo careers, but reassured everyone that they are not breaking up with the possibility of reuniting always being in their future plans.
And along that road to performing in front of the largest single-day audience on U.S. television at its biggest sports & pop culture event, the guys also paid it forward and owed a big thanks to the Real World cast for giving them their first major TV exposure. After the Party Rock album was released - as well as them appearing to perform on the RW reunion special, the guys came back to Jonna and asked her to star in the video for the follow-up single to "Miami," "La La La." Jonna played the love interest of RedFoo well before he was boyfriend for some time to tennis star Victoria Azerenka.
Along with appearing with David Guetta in the 2010 international hit "Gettin' Over You," this set the stage for what would happen in 2011. In February, LMFAO released "Party Rock Anthem" with British pop star and member of girl group G.R.L. Lauren Bennett and producer GoonRock. For the music video - a parody of the horror flick 28 Days Later, Director Mickey Finnegan says of its concept: "There's been an epidemic, the world has gone crazy, as soon as the song came out, everyone got possessed and all they want to do is to shuffle, everyone is a shuffler."
It became memorable for the dance moves that America's Best Dance Crew champions Quest Crew choreographed once the guys had awoken from a hospital bed after excessive partying and walked onto a street of deserted cars, realizing "Party Rock Anthem" was being released. Once a guy clues them in about is going on, the guys begin to perform the Melbourne Shuffle, a club and rave dance of fast heel & toe action that originated in the Australian underground music scene in the '80s and after 30 years began to take the U.S. by storm by way of this video.
The results of this massive success: #1 on the mainstream pop charts in 18 countries including spending 68 weeks inside the Billboard Hot 100. "Party Rock Anthem" was 2011's third best-selling digital single with 9.7 million legal downloads, ultimately becoming the 3rd best-selling digital song in U.S. history, and the 5th most-successful song ever in the long history of Billboard magazine - and also being top winner at that year's Billboard Music Awards. And for the video, it's in the Top 25 in most-viewed videos ever on YouTube and one of over 30 music videos to have achieved the 1-billion views mark... not to mention other big honors. But that's not all.
That fall, LMFAO released "Sexy and I Know It," which followed in the previous single's success by topping the Hot 100 (becoming first duo to have two straight #1 singles since Outkast) and peaked in the top 10 in other countries. The video itself was as memorable, as the Venice Beach-based video saw RedFoo, the group's mascot Shuffle Bot, the aforementioned Q, Quest Crew and Nathan Palsey dance around the streets of the beachside town in their Speedos, with cameos from Jamie Foxx, Wilmer Valderrama, adult film icon Ron Jeremy, former MTV VJ Simon Rex and others.
To celebrate their breakthrough 2011, the guys were brought on to perform with Madonna at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show as they performed a mash-up of their two breakout singles to the tune of "Music" by the Material Girl. This would turn out to be near the end of the peak of LMFAO mania, as after the release of the title track from Sorry for Party Rocking, the guys announced that they would take an indefinite hiatus to focus on RedFoo and SkyBlu's solo careers, but reassured everyone that they are not breaking up with the possibility of reuniting always being in their future plans.And along that road to performing in front of the largest single-day audience on U.S. television at its biggest sports & pop culture event, the guys also paid it forward and owed a big thanks to the Real World cast for giving them their first major TV exposure. After the Party Rock album was released - as well as them appearing to perform on the RW reunion special, the guys came back to Jonna and asked her to star in the video for the follow-up single to "Miami," "La La La." Jonna played the love interest of RedFoo well before he was boyfriend for some time to tennis star Victoria Azerenka.
Last year during blog coverage of Bloodlines, we wrote about how Team Cancun had a hand in helping this blogger become a Challenge fan when CJ - a former college football punter - went up against a beast in wide receiver Zach, and the two engaged in an epic elimination battle on the first modern Challenge season I watched in its entirety - Battle of the Seasons II in 2012. Despite not having an appearance in a Challenge final as of yet, the cast nonetheless is one of my personal favorites -- now with three of them being parents.
But the biggest legacy from their original Real World season is that they got to know the guys of LMFAO first before the rest of the world knew RedFoo, SkyBlu and their brand of "Party Rock." One epic week at Spring Break when they were all younger, they got to hang out with the guys who are unique in their own way both musically and in person, and had fun... even if it took for sacrificing one's job to have a good time, as the guys always do. Before there was "Party Rock Anthem" and the breakthrough 2011 they had, it was the guys partying with TV's original reality show. They and the eight who called Mexico for three memorable months don't have to say "Sorry for Party Rocking."
In true throwback fashion, embedded below is video of LMFAO's time in Cancun with The Real World cast, courtesy of -- of all places -- MySpace. Enjoy.
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As we wrap this doubleheader of In-Depth posts, I want to say a big thank you to those who shared and spread the word on my what I see as one of the best original posts I've done, and most definitely the most poignant in the post on Johnny Bananas and Kasey Harvey. Both subjects gave me praise for the article on Twitter, and I'm sure you all enjoyed my look at their special bond, which if it has changed your perception of him as a TV villain into someone with a heart, then you were touched in some way by that post and moved by it by the time you reached the closing epilogue. And by the amount of traffic driven to this site, I'm sure you enjoyed checking it out
I have worked on that long-form for several months and was going to post it after that Challenge, but with the Rio Olympics, my Vegas trip and focus on Real World Seattle saw it be posted during the Thanksgiving weekend, which felt ideal for it being the start of the holidays and it being posted two years to the month of Diem Brown's passing and Kasey's cancer diagnosis. If you haven't read it, be sure to do so... It means so much to have this broad exposure to bring this story to all of you. And if you got thoughts, send them away here or on Twitter @DC408Dxtr.
With new episodes returning Wednesday, this weekend we'll be back to our usual focus of bringing you the social reaction and our recap of the week that was on the episodes, along with our ExtraTime bits as well. In the ladder, there's one couple left in Seattle who have a chance to make things up and if they do, they might as well follow in the footsteps of the subjects of what our "Catching Up with..." profile have done since leaving their Real World experience...you'll meet them and their new addition this weekend, along with going for a ride with the man they call "Jungle Boy."
Make sure to bookmark DCBLOG for wall-to-wall coverage of the current season airing of Real World Bad Blood in Seattle, plus Season 29 of The Challenge and Season 5 of Are You The One? - all presented with our unique look at the people and the stories of this ecosystem. Again, please help spread the word of this site by sharing these links to your fellow fans so more of your fellow fans can enjoy this site's high-caliber content... it'll be most appreciated as this site continually strives to bring you this outstanding coverage in a way no other site can.
That is how we look at it this holiday week off in the MTV Trifecta... thanks for checking out these two special In-Depth editions of DC ExtraTime, and rejoin us at week's end when we resume our coverage of the MTV Trifecta and Real World Bad Blood. Talk to you all then.
- I AM DC
Make sure to bookmark DCBLOG for wall-to-wall coverage of the current season airing of Real World Bad Blood in Seattle, plus Season 29 of The Challenge and Season 5 of Are You The One? - all presented with our unique look at the people and the stories of this ecosystem. Again, please help spread the word of this site by sharing these links to your fellow fans so more of your fellow fans can enjoy this site's high-caliber content... it'll be most appreciated as this site continually strives to bring you this outstanding coverage in a way no other site can.
That is how we look at it this holiday week off in the MTV Trifecta... thanks for checking out these two special In-Depth editions of DC ExtraTime, and rejoin us at week's end when we resume our coverage of the MTV Trifecta and Real World Bad Blood. Talk to you all then.
- I AM DC
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